One Day
by Settiai
Summary: It was a fairly normal day, all things considered. :: hints of Jimmy/Michelle


The sound of a ringing phone woke Jimmy Palmer from what had been a sound sleep.

Groaning, Jimmy rolled over and squinted at his alarm clock. Even though without his glasses the numbers were blurred, he could still see 4:47 a.m. shining red in the darkness. "You have to be kidding me," he grumbled as he reached over to his dresser and began fumbling for the phone.

Once he had finally found it, Jimmy reluctantly pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Hello?" he said, barely suppressing a yawn.

His tired look faded somewhat as he listened to the person on the other end of the line, and he quickly stood up. "Sure, no problem," he said, grabbing his glasses off the dresser. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

As he hung up, Jimmy glanced back over at his clock. "This is going to be a long day," he said with a sigh.

Then he headed for his closet to throw on some clothes.

----------

DiNozzo didn't even glance up as Jimmy walked through the door, instead gesturing at the clock on the wall that read 6:38 a.m. "It took the two of you long enough," he said, his gaze focused on the two bodies laying in the middle of the room. "What happened, Ducky, did Palmer. . ."

McGee loudly cleared his throat, causing Tony to trail off as he finally glanced up. He blinked in surprise when he saw that Jimmy was the only one standing there. "Where's Ducky?" he asked, confused. "I thought you were going to pick him up."

Jimmy didn't reply for several seconds. "We have a slight . . . problem with that," he finally said uncomfortably, shuffling his feet a bit as he made his way over to the body and knelt down beside it.

"Please tell me that he hasn't caught that virus that's been going around the building," DiNozzo said. His eyes narrowed when Jimmy didn't reply. "Great. Just great. First Ziva, and now Ducky. If it keeps this up, I'm not going to have a team."

As he knelt down beside the two bodies, Jimmy couldn't help but frown. It was a man and a woman, neither of them any older than him. Both had their heads smashed in, and blood was pooling around them. Not to mention several gray chunks that he recognized as pieces of their brains. He flinched and steeled himself.

"Where's Agent Lee?" he asked after several seconds had passed, not looking up as he studied the bodies. "I thought she was working with you now."

When neither DiNozzo or McGee answered, Jimmy finally glanced up. They were both wearing unreadable expressions on their faces. "What?" he asked reluctantly.

"Well, you see, she's. . ." McGee trailed off and glanced over at DiNozzo, an almost helpless look in his eyes.

DiNozzo sighed tiredly. "The last I saw, she was headed out back to throw up."

"She's got the virus too?" Jimmy asked, wrinkling his nose.

"No."

Jimmy's eyes widened in comprehension as he glanced back down at the two bodies. "Oh," he said softly. "I see."

None of them said a word for a minute. Then DiNozzo cleared his throat pointedly. "Any idea what happened here? Besides the obvious?"

"Hmm." Jimmy focused his attention on the bodies again, and his frown deepened. "Maybe it's not that obvious after all."

DiNozzo glanced over at McGee and raised an eyebrow, but the younger agent just shrugged. "Care to fill us in?"

Jimmy glanced back up. "I'm not sure," he said thoughtfully. "Take a close look at the blood that's pooled around their heads."

McGee's face paled slightly. "I've been trying not to."

"I don't need two agents out back throwing up, McGee," DiNozzo said irritably. His annoyance didn't quite reach his eyes, though. "What am I looking for, Palmer?"

"It just doesn't fit," Jimmy said, shaking his head.

DiNozzo cleared his throat. Loudly.

"The blood," Jimmy elaborated. "There's not enough of it, and it's not the right consistency."

"So you're saying they were already dead when their heads were . . . you know," a weak voice said from behind them.

The three men turned their faces around to see Lee standing there, her face pale but otherwise looking fine. She was carefully avoiding glancing at the bodies, though.

"Is she right?" DiNozzo asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced back at Jimmy. "They were already dead when someone smashed in their skulls?"

Jimmy nodded, his expression grim. "I'm afraid so."

----------

Jimmy sighed as he glanced over at the morgue's only clock. 12:27 p.m.

It had been a long morning, that much was for certain. He hadn't had a chance to eat breakfast, and spending the last several hours spent in autopsy had pretty much guaranteed that lunch wasn't going to sound any more appetizing later than it did then. No matter how hungry he was.

"Sometimes I wonder why I even bother getting out of bed in the mornings," he said, sighing.

Someone cleared their throat.

Jimmy glanced over at the door in surprise, a startled look on his face when he saw Agent Lee standing there holding a carryout bag from a nearby restaurant.

"Abby told me to bring this down," Lee said, shooting him a weak smile as she handed over the bag. "She said something about it being her job to keep an eye on you while Dr. Mallard's sick."

Jimmy rolled his eyes at that, but he still managed to shoot Lee a weak smile. "Thank you, Agent Lee, but I'm really not that hungry at the moment."

His stomach decided that moment was the perfect time to growl.

As his face flushed slightly, Lee's mouth twisted upward into the hint of a smile. "Your stomach seems to disagree," she said lightly. "And, please, call me Michelle."

Jimmy couldn't help but stare as she turned around and walked back out of the room.

----------

"Jimmy, you were right!"

As the sound of Abby's voice echoed throughout the morgue, Jimmy shook his head and made his way over to the nearby screen. "What was I right about?" he asked.

Abby rolled her eyes. "Remember when you told me to make sure to double-check the victims' blood for toxins?"

Jimmy eyed her warily through the screen. "Yes," he said slowly. "Why?"

"I found something," Abby said, grinning. "It's pretty rare, and I never would have seen it if I hadn't been looking closely. You might have just helped us solve the case!"

He couldn't help but smile just a little bit at that. "Do they have any suspects?"

Abby nodded vigorously. "Yep," she said cheerfully. "The ex-girlfriend. She's the only suspect they found, and all they needed was some proof. Tony and the others have already left to go pick her up."

Jimmy glanced over at the clock. 4:16 p.m.

----------

6:25 p.m. It had been over two hours, and Jimmy still hadn't heard a word about what DiNozzo's team had found. "Maybe they didn't have the right person after all," he said, sighing as he dropped back down in a chair.

He looked up when he heard the door open and quickly pushed himself to his feet. "Agent Lee."

"Michelle," she corrected him.

Jimmy nodded. "Michelle," he repeated. "Did you guys solve the case?"

"We didn't have any trouble," Michelle replied, smiling slightly as she made her way over to where he was standing. "The girlfriend broke down and confessed before Agent DiNozzo even said a word."

He raised an eyebrow at that and gestured toward the clock. "If it was that easy, then what took so long?"

"I said she confessed as soon as we found her," she said, suddenly looking a little sheepish. "I didn't mention how long it took us to actually track her down."

"Ah." Jimmy rested his hands on the table. "Still, congratulations," he said, smiling at her. "It sounds like you earned it."

"Don't you mean _we_?" she asked, eyeing him.

He just shook his head. "I really didn't do that much."

"I don't know about that." Michelle smiled tentatively as she brought her hand down to rest on top of his, her fingers intertwining with his ever so slightly. His gaze unconsciously drifted down and landed on their hands. "I'm going to kiss you now."

Jimmy stood there for a second before her words reached his brain. He blinked twice and quickly brought his gaze back up to meet hers. "What?" he asked, a confused look on his face as he replayed her last statement.

She kissed him.

It only lasted a second, but she was smiling as she pulled away. "Congratulations to you too," she said, giving him a wink before turning and walking away.

As the door shut behind her, Jimmy reached up to touch his lips. "Okay," he said, sounding slightly dazed, "that was unexpected."


End file.
